New head coach, two seniors lead Wellington wrestling team

It's a familiar face, and name for Wellington High School wrestling, but being the Head Coach is something new for Mitch McComb.

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By Nate Jones

Wellington Daily News - Wellington, KS

By Nate Jones

Posted Nov. 27, 2012 at 3:47 PM
Updated Nov 27, 2012 at 3:53 PM

By Nate Jones

Posted Nov. 27, 2012 at 3:47 PM
Updated Nov 27, 2012 at 3:53 PM

It's a familiar face, and name for Wellington High School wrestling, but being the Head Coach is something new for Mitch McComb. He's been an assistant coach under his brother, John for the last six years. This season, he will lead WHS into the ring.

There are two seniors on the squad this year, Jason Haydon, and Justin Bruns. The new Head Coach spoke highly of both wrestlers.

"Haydon is a two time State qualifier, he's got over 50 high school wins," McComb said. The juniors out number the seniors on the team, with five all together. One of them, Andrew Horn, missed out on their sophomore year, the coach has been pleased with his work ethic.

"He suffered an injury a year ago, broke his leg two weeks before the season," McComb said. "As a freshmen he was 16-12 at 103 lbs." Another junior has also stood out in the early going of practice.

"Ben DeJarnett's got a lot of experience, he's our most technical wrestler," the coach said. Several sophomores and freshmen will make an appearance on the starting roster, McComb said there are nine kids over 200 lbs. on the team this year.

As far as expectations go, McComb says he feels like the Crusaders have an outside shot at winning the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League, Div. IV, some wrestlers have a shot at winning even more.

"I could have as many as eight to 10 qualify for State, or I could have none," the coach said. "That's how tough wrestling is. I've got 10 potential State qualifiers, that's in my head." McComb knows a little bit about qualifing for State as he did himself during his days at WHS, he wrestled for 13 years while growing up in the community and was a three year letterman in high school. Getting to State is every wrestler's goal, McComb will do his best to put his team members in position to reach those heights.

"Granted they have to work hard, they've got to put out the effort," he said. 'They've got to do some stuff outside the practice room to get themselves in shape